Second of two parts.
Cumberland County public schools are celebrating North Carolina’s School Social Work Month.
Two of the county's best have been honored. Monica Hall, a social worker at Rockfish Elementary School, and Shannon Sykes, a social worker at Gray’s Creek and J.W. Coon elementary schools, were named the Cumberland County Schools 2023-2024 Faye Huckabee School Social Workers of the Year earlier this month. The award is normally only given to one person, but Sykes and Hall were both chosen “due to the number of deserving recipients,” the release said.
The women were honored at an event March 14, where Superintendent Dr. Marvin Connelly Jr. presented them with a District Challenge Coin. A challenge coin is a special coin bearing an organization’s logo or insignia.
Pamela Story, the school system’s social work coordinator, described Sykes as “an outstanding professional whose passion, expertise and unwavering commitment to social justice make her an invaluable asset to our entire school system.”
Today, we feature our conversation with Skyes. Her answers are excerpted below and have been edited for brevity and clarity. Read Hall's Q&A here.
Sykes' answers are excerpted below and have been edited for brevity and clarity.
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CITYVIEW: Can you walk me through the career path that led you to where you are today?
Shannon Sykes: My first social work out of college was actually at Cumberland Hospital, which doesn’t exist anymore … From there, I went to Moore County Dept. of Social Services. They were all social work roles, but I was in different positions there. I started as an adult home specialist, which basically went into rest home-level care and working with the facilities, making sure that they were meeting all the needs and requirements by law for [patients]. Then I moved over to Adult Protective Services … I was there until I had my son, and then I stayed home for a year. And he just turned 23, so that was several years.
When I went back to work, I was the social service director at Highland House Nursing Home. From there, I went to the Cumberland County Dept. of Social Services, where I worked as the social worker in the Work First employment program … helping any of the clients that came in and were on Work First to remove barriers and to become employed.
When I left there, I came over to the school system and I started in the Early-In preschool program, which is our special education for preschoolers. I was part of that diagnostic team where we assessed, evaluated and placed children if they qualified for Exceptional Children services … From there is when I ended up actually in the schools. They downsized the program … I worked at College Lakes and J.W. Coon elementary schools [as a social worker]. I worked both of those schools for a few years, and then they made my position here at J.W. Coon [full-time]. I’ve been at J.W. Coon a long time; I think this is my 14th or 15th year.
Right when we started Covid-19, they changed the allotment, and they made me 50% J.W. Coon and 50% Gray’s Creek.
And what made you want to get into social work?
I laugh about this story with my children all the time, because I was actually a criminal justice major when I started. But I realized really quickly when I was in college that my opinion was very different from everybody else in the room. I just kind of started taking a real deep look at, “Hm, maybe this isn’t for me,” or maybe in a different capacity … I was like, “Well, that kind of sounds like me,” and thankfully, I picked correct for me, because I have loved [social work] ever since.
What’s a typical day in your life like?
No matter what I think my day is going to look like, I promise you it does not look like [that] … My mornings are usually the same. I do morning duty, try to get the kids out of the car and welcome them and start their day off in the right direction. I always say I have two Mondays, because I have two schools. A lot of times I’m playing a lot of catch-up in crisis, trying to catch up with my families, because things don’t just shut off because I leave the building.
I could have everything from a quiet day where I’m actually doing paperwork, which is a rarity; usually I’m doing that at home because I don’t get time to sit and do paperwork … Somebody could have been evicted from their home the night before and I’m trying to help them with eviction paperwork and find them a location, get them resources. Recently, [at] both of my schools, in the same week, I had two families have fires. It could be somebody having a meltdown from the weekend and wherever that carries me.
There’s so many things we deal with as social workers and that families deal with. I say I deal with it, but I’m not dealing with it; I’m trying to help them get back and get some normalcy and help.
How did you find out that you had received this award?
The funny thing is, I didn’t even know I was nominated. I had logged on to the email. Every year, March is Social Work Appreciation Month and we always have our meeting in March. Before it, all the nominations come out and the social workers vote on it. I’m looking … and I looked on there and I see my name. I was like, “What?” So I was very surprised.
We found out that morning. Pam called me … I was very happy to find out that it was [also] Monica because I had actually voted for Monica. We have known each other for a really long time, so I’m super happy for her.
What do most people not know or understand about your job that you would want them to know?
What a lot of people don’t understand is we’re bound by confidentiality. If a teacher refers a student to me because they genuinely care and want to help that child, but then it’s really difficult because I can’t give them all the feedback that they want. Students aren’t going to trust me if I do share that, which would be totally unethical to begin with [and] I would never do. That’s really difficult to do sometimes because it’s really hard to walk the line and make sure everybody understands. Maybe I have a situation where I know a lot of what’s going on with this child over here, but they may only see that the child is throwing computers in the room and throwing things … I feel like I’ve worked with a lot of the teachers for a long time, so they trust when I say, “I need you to just trust me on this and we’re going to get through this, but I need you to give a little grace.”
What would you say are some of the biggest challenges parents and students are facing in Cumberland County?
Everything is so expensive now for everybody. We’re seeing a lot more of things like food insecurity or evictions or electricity being turned off. Just basic necessities that we take for granted every day.
What would you want parents and students to know about what you do?
I want parents to know that I am here for their child and for them. Ask the questions. Call me. When they call me, it stays between us. I’m not sharing their business out there. My role is to help lose any barriers so their child can be successful. I don’t always know the answers – I tell my parents and my kids that. I don’t know all the answers, but I’m really good at researching and finding.
Sometimes I think there’s a misconception about social workers. Lifetime [the entertainment network] has not done a true favor. Everybody thinks when they hear from a social worker, “Oh, it must be something bad,” but it’s not. I want to help you. I’ve done this for a really long time, and I know what’s out there. This might be the first time you’ve experienced something. It’s not handouts. It’s a step up. We all need that at some point in our life.
For kids, I just want them to know that they are my number-one priority. I leave my door open all the time. They always laugh and say it’s a revolving door in here because kids are constantly popping in … I love for them to share their successes, but I also want them to know if they just need somewhere to calm down or be sad or have a quiet moment or they just want to say hi, I am always available for them.
What would you say has been your proudest moment as a school social worker?
Some days are really, really hard, but some days are really, really good, and those are the days [that are] why you do it. I think the little things are the proud moments … A student I’ve been working with forever and I feel like, “Gosh, am I even helping her?” and she sends me a little picture or note that tells me how thankful she is for me or how much she loves me … Watching my Exceptional Children students who have tantrums every day because they have trouble learning how to communicate their wants and needs, even though they’re not verbal – those are huge wins to me. Those are such proud moments. I get chills just talking about them.
My biggest thing … I was able to get a grant with Samaritan's Feet and we were able to give shoes and socks to every kid at our school … We made it a huge event. The [Cumberland County] Sheriff’s Office was amazing. I probably had 20 to 25 deputies here. I probably had another 20 volunteers … It was a time that they bonded with the adult that was working across from them. They talked to them, they sized them up, they got their free shoes and they walked out. Everybody was so excited and happy … The grant was so large that I was also able to get free shoes for all of Sherwood Park and Mary McArthur [elementary schools].
Nationally, many school systems struggle to adequately staff their schools with enough social workers, school psychologists and school counselors. Is that a challenge you’ve seen in Cumberland County, and if so, how does it impact the work you do?
I’m very grateful that Cumberland County sees the value of school social workers and the important role that we play as being a liaison between the home, the school and the community …
Staffing’s not a problem, and we’ve been lucky to get more staff in with extra funding. However, that funding will be ending if not this year, then I believe next year. In a perfect scenario, a full-time social worker would be beneficial in every single school.
Problems and crises don’t stop just because we go to another school. When we’re working two schools, we don’t stop answering questions or trying to help the other school … Having worked [at one school] 100% and having worked [at two schools] 50-50, I can see a big difference in what it does for our families. Those families see my face every single day … I can only speak to my personal experiences, but it makes a huge difference.
I’m grateful that we have as many as we have. I know funding makes it difficult to do that.
Are there any initiatives or upcoming projects you’ll be involved with through your work that you want to share?
I did want to talk a little bit about the washer-dryer grant, because it has been completely amazing. It was a year-long process that I went through. It’s through Whirlpool and Teach for America.
We’re one of two schools in North Carolina that received this. They had never gone to North Carolina [before].
We got a washer and dryer installed. Along with that washer and dryer came a $10,000 cash grant … and it’s also a year’s worth of laundry detergent and all the supplies that you need.
In the interview, [I was asked,] “What would you do with the $10,000?” … At the time, I said, “I would like to develop a pantry for my families based on need.” We haven’t gotten the cash part yet … They say at the end of the year you get it, so it’ll probably be more like the beginning of the [school] year that this will be up and running, because we haven’t received it yet.
Reporter Lexi Solomon can be reached at lsolomon@cityviewnc.com or 910-423-6500.
This story was made possible by contributions to CityView News Fund, a 501c3 charitable organization committed to an informed democracy.
